Mesa Jr.’s No-Hitter Ensures Flanagan of Top Seed In District Again This Season

Flanagan sent a message to all Class 8A teams in South Florida on Thursday afternoon. The message was simple: Take a look at Jose Mesa Jr., because to defeat the Falcons in the playoffs, you will have to defeat their nearly unhittable ace.

Mesa Jr. no-hit West Broward for the second time this season as the Falcons posted a 5-1 victory. The win secured the top seed in the District 8A-12 playoffs for Flanagan. Not bad for a team many Broward fans had written off as young and “down” at the beginning of the season. If this 13-4 team equals a down season, then the Falcons have set quite a bar for themselves.

“It’s funny, because early in the year, everybody was talking about, ‘Oh, Flanagan is down,'” West Broward head coach Sergio Ambros said. “And I remember at the time thinking, Flanagan is Flanagan, and at the end of the year they’re going to be exactly where they always are, and they proved that today. That’s what happens when you have that type of coaching staff that prepares and gets them ready to play. We left the door open today, and they took advantage of it.”

That door swung open in the second inning when the Falcons scored four runs. An error started the big inning, and from there, Flanagan used the long ball to build their lead. Benito Santiago hit a two-run shot, and two batters later, lead-off hitter Andres Visbal connected for a solo blast to right.

Although the Falcons tacked on a run in the third, the four-run second was all that Mesa Jr. needed on this day. The senior has posted some of the best numbers ever seen in Broward County for a pitcher, and the stat line is most impressive when facing the Falcons’ biggest rival, West Broward.

When the teams first met March 9, Mesa Jr. threw six innings and allowed no hits. Flanagan head coach Ray Evans allowed Mesa Jr. to go out for the seventh, but his sixth walk of the day ended the outing with his pitch count rising. A bad hop single ended the no-hitter hopes that night. Yesterday, Mesa ensured pitch counts would not be a problem as he walked only two batters all game.

“The difference today was having a lower pitch count,” said Mesa. “I was getting ahead with my fastball. I lost a little bit of concentration in the fourth, but I picked right back up after that, and was back to where I was before. This was a good team win, and we are just preparing and getting better. Hopefully we can make a run and end up in Port St. Lucie at the end of the year.”

Major League scouts have been out in full force watching players from South Florida this season, and Mesa Jr. was the star attraction Thursday. This season, the Flanagan senior has thrown 52.2 innings and given up only 11 hits. Mesa Jr. has made 10 appearances for the Falcons, and has not allowed more than three hits in any of those outings. His 99 strikeouts lead the county and have Evans believing this team could ride its ace deep into the playoffs.

“He’s just gotten so much better over the course of the season,” Evans said. “He’s continuing to progress, much like we wanted him to. He’s a premiere pitcher, and when he’s on, there’s not going to be anyone that touches him. I don’t know of a pitcher in the county that is better right now.”

While Flanagan locked up the top seed, West Broward will be the second seed when the district playoffs begin, and Ambros still believes his team can win a district title should these teams meet for a third time later this season.

“We don’t take anything for granted, but hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to face them again in the district championship,” Ambros said. “We know we’re going to face him (Mesa Jr.), and hopefully we can execute. If we play better defense than we did today, I know we can compete.”

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